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Sunday, January 15, 2006

Golden Rule

Golden, Silver, & Platinum RulesThe Golden Rule, the ethical value of reciprocity, can be summed up as "Treat others the way you would like to be treated." The Silver Rule can be stated as "Treat others the way they like to be treated. " There is also a Platinum Rule.

The Distortion of the Golden RuleCritics have manipulated the Golden Rule to say that it could be used by masochists to excuse their behavior on unwilling individuals. The Golden Rule focuses on the action and not the object of the action, contrary to the incorrect interpretation of scoffers. Such a warped interpretation is explicitly rejected in other parts of the Bible. [1] Most religious understandings of the Golden Rule imply its use as a virtue toward greater love for one's neighbor as opposed to a deontological or consequentialist rule. See this good link. [2]

Brian Holtz claims that "The Golden Rule's ethical value of reciprocity does not satisfy the axiological criteria of maximality and compatibility and so cannot by itself be a satisfactory system of ethics," but compatibility is irrelevant and the principle of reciprocity is centered on intention and is thus of the highest ethical importance. Also, suggesting that the Golden Rule was intended to be "a system of ethics" is unreasonable.